MOPED ARMY

I have been pondering whether to get myself a better moped or whether I should get a motorcycle. However, I think mopeds are great because they have pedals (usually); if something breaks down (or you run out of gas) you can always pedal to safety! Also Mopeders cool because they don't conform to the norm (even to the norm of two wheeled vehicles)! But it's a good question, worth some thought.

Hats off zxrider

I think that was an excellent tribute to riding in general!zxrider.

Normally mopeders get the worst, but you gave us a nod.

My feeling is, it's the craziest feeling in the world, to zip past people unawares, in shorts,no helmet (although i don't advise this) on a machine with almost no suspension. Feel for the road is 100%, because the next ditch will kill you. Motorcyclists miss the death defying feel of riding a moped..

i come form the UK and although i want to go on to motorbikes when i am old enough i think if i was goin around town or around localy i would still use the ped because you cant go above 30 in residential areas anyway, you only need a CBT licence to ride one they are economical petrol wise and because mine is pretty old and looks crap no one will nick it. I find the problem comes when you want to travel any distance because the minimum speed on a mororway is 30 if you drop a notch you r breakin the law. ok no prob u may think but.... when most ppl are traveling around 70mph it can kinda get dangerous so u need a motorbike with a replacenment 50cc engine

.

- Well to be fair this depends on the size of the motorcycle (here at least it directly depends on engine size and rider record). If I were driving even a very small motorcycle I'd be paying literally 4 times the insurance or more per year. So that depends on the area, on the bike, and on the rider.

- this depends again, have seen ratings in miles per gallon and kilometers - and of course you have to compare the same to the same to get an accurate result.

True, but the average moped still gets anywhere from 20-40mpg more than a motorcycle and if you ride every day to work as I do over the course of a year that isn't a small amount with current gas prices. :)

Actually they win if you count power/mileage maybe... but in mileage they'll always lose out if you're looking strictly at that.

Agreed. Plus being simpler with basic maintenence on many models they'll last for a LONG time. (how many of you are riding 20 year old machines with 80 percent plus original parts after all)

I'd say this depends on the area for both sides. Here I see a lot of motorcycles and few mopeds (but getting to be more) I'd say the ratio here might be closer to 100 to 1 or 50 to 1.. and mopeds being VERY much less common than that. I get stopped 2-3 times a week with people asking me about mopeds these days.... I don't see motorcycle drivers getting stopped very much :)

Actually I see a trend here for people to keep buying the larger sportsbikes - and seeing as many of them are novice riders they end up as pavement pizza. Not to mention any issues picking it up. Even the lightest motorcycle I've ever seen stilled weighed considerably more than any moped (well excepting perhaps that zundapp moped made that looked exactly like a motorcycle... but how many of THOSE do you see!)

True, but mopeds are even easier than motorcycles. I can stick mine behind concrete dividers and such because I can pick it up and lift it over things. Can't do that with a motorcycle. Some places I can put it in a bike rack (some people get upset, some don't) and many other places I get stick it in some unused corner where I could never get a motorcycle. But in general both are easy to park, mopeds just have some extra advantages.

With no mods aside from the biturbo on my machine I don't have any issues getting away from anyone... speed limits on the roads I take are at most 60kph and I can do a good 10 kph above that if I have to. Acceleration is really the only issue where in downtown driving motorcycles have the advantage rather than power. And I find most people (aside from some exceptions) buy them for power, to impress people, or to pick up the opposite sex. :) I bought a moped because I don't care what people thing and I have fun riding it. Why get a motorcycle with more power I wouldn't use where I ride, pay 5 times as much per year, and have it cost twice as much or more to buy in the first place?

Comes down to apples and oranges here. They might be inefficient but given the amount of power they use and amount of gas they use... they're still more efficient than a motorcycle for the job of pushing one person around a city. On a strictly power developed for gas used type of examation you're probably right.. but when you look at how much gas they use for pushing one person around downtown... they win.

Which is the perfect way to do it I'll admit, mopeds aren't exactly suitable for highway usage after all :) (I just have no reason to use the highway.. otherwise I'd look into a vehicle for that as well)

Just my two cents (well ok I might have put in 4... damn inflation)

Jamie

I ride a moped now because it fits in better with my current, retired, lifestyle. I rode Goldwings for years and several hundred thousands of miles with no accidents, but now I just blast around on my Autopower and love it. When my wife and I go camping colse to home, I tow the fifth wheel and she tows the trailer with my ped and her scoot so we can run around the big state parks here in New York. I can load them both on the trailer by hand so it only takes a little effort. I love anything with two wheels, and maybe one day I'll get back on a big bike, but for now the ped is it.

zx,

I have several motorcycles, mostly old and 3 mopeds.

Generally speaking, I find the motorcycles to be economical, comfortable, easy to handle and keep up with traffic and they get you there in the same or less time than a car. The only down side is they crash heavily from all that inertia. Oh well, I have almost recovered from the last one. : )

Mopeds, on the other hand are uncomfortable, having rudimentary "pogo stick" suspension. They are too slow to keep up with traffic in most places, a typical 15 minute trip becomes 45 mins. Handling and brakes are on a par with the rest of the machine but you can stop and get around corners. Like most 2 cycles, they are a bit noisy, smelly and drip a little oil when parked. Having to carry 2 cycle oil is a bit of a drag too.

Why do I ride one? I am not sure, you need to get on one yourself and take a ride.

If the answer to your question is not obvious, you should stick to your big bike. If you can't get the grin of your face, buy a ped and join us.

Ron

An important thing: When you ride, are you trying to save gas?

I know I ride a LOT differently when I know I'm almost out of gas...

I bet rider throttle habits are the main culprit on poor mileage.

If you're using your brakes more than your throttle, maybe you should try to coast more.

I was also told that even with an oil-injector, you should rev a 2-stroke engine up and down, to let it cool and gather oil.... I don't know how true this is, but my ped seems to ride better when I 'rev' it vs. just going 'full throttle'

If you're going to make comparisons about 'economy' I would argue that a moped rider who tried like hell to get the top mileage would beat just about any other vehicle.

How far have you managed to get a moped on the 'reserve' tank by driving like an old lady? I know I've made a reserve tank last a long time when I absolutely had to.

Good points except I don't get 60-70 mpg "normally" - I'd estimate 80-100 mpg would be average (80 on days when I get more "stop and go" type traffic)

I think a more accurate efficiency challenge would be to look at gas usage over a period of time anyways (like I said elsewhere in this thread, looking at things from too close a perspective doesn't give an accurate picture) and if you did a month or two's usage of gas... I would suspect you'd see a fair amount of difference.

Actually thats a challenge we COULD do (using the honor system and expecting everyone to report accurate results) - simply put we record our mileage over a months time and also record how much gas we put into the moped/motorcycle (maybe even two months to get a more accurate sampling) That would give a pretty good picture... presuming similar riding habits. (obviously it'd only be fair to compare similar riding environments... urban against urban, rural versus rural)

And I'd agree.. two strokes (more modern ones are a bit better but still lacking) on a strictly CC compared to CC basis are not as efficient.. however I'd still bet a 49cc fairly up to date moped would beat out a larger motorcycle driven downtown. Takes more gas to get a bigger engine and frame up to speed after all, and I think that would more than balance out any efficiency issues. Mind you a 50cc 4 stroke motorbike would likely be an entirely different animal :)

Jamie

Well thats why you'd need to have a few people doing it... problem with one person riding directly against another is it might come down to individual machines and riding habits and such. And if you have 4ish people per group, any errors in odometers would tend to cancel eachother out. Only thing one machine directly against another would prove is that motorcycle A against moped B on that given day, on that given path, and with that particular set of conditions... one is more efficient than the other. Doesn't prove anything in the real world unfortunately (and if we are arguing real world efficiency, we need to average things out and get a group of people doing it)

(plus when you say ride a given path, who picks the path? :)

I think if you wanted to actually show something that might show some real results that mean something... you need a group of people giving results over time. (In an ideal world with several brands of moped and several brand of motorcycles under varying conditions.) That'd really show which was which :)

Good point... will be judging my mileage from next time I fill the tank (Easier that way) onwards for a few weeks. I would think for the lower speeds of downtown urban driving mopeds would have an advantage (but thats partially why I would prefer getting a decent cross sampling of machines and riders :)

Yes... but I have it on good authority (a Brit biker riding an 1100) when he was having "problems" of a personal nature which left him virtually penniless and gasless and friendless far from home.

He says he got near to 90mpg by riding very slowly.

His 'problem' also might have affected his perception at the time ... so who knows for sure.

I think the inherant advantages of a relatively modern 4 stroke outweigh the "inefficiency mode" this test would use..... enough to still outdo your typ 2 stroke moped.

And if a big bike like the one I am talking about would... imagine what a modern fuel injected small single tuned for efficiency would do.

(none of them are actually tuned that way as of now.. gas is still pretty cheap)

On the trip thing... I had considered a slow economy test... and I have to say that the discipline needed to stay at say 30mph for long periods of time...(in 5th gear) might be more than I could muster!

... I put on 80 miles yesterday and experimented with speeds on back roads (dirt)... the carb slides were only the tiniest bit off the bottom in 5th gear at 30mph... but I bet I am getting greaaaaaaaaaate gas mileage anyway!

The fuel economy bike that reached 280mpg was a single cylinder Honda 185 with minimal motor mods ... the procedure was to gently accelerate to bout 25 mph... the kill the motor and coast to bout 12.. then bump fire it back up and do it again.

(if I remember right!)

But you missed some of my points (which I didn't think were silly at all)

1. Averaging out results from different machines means you don't end up proving that ONE moped is more/less efficient than ONE motorcycle - which is all a head to head race would prove. Unless you had several mopeds and several motorcycles.

2. Motorcycles and mopeds have different speeds at which they reach maximum efficiency, and things like idle gas usage would affect them differently. So a lower speed path with lots of stops might favour one machine, whereas a different path would favour another machine - so you'd need to do a few different paths to get any real result (again with different motorcycles and mopeds) This would be the preferred thing I admit, but not likely to happen... whereas just averaging out peoples everyday riding results isn't terribly hard to arrange.

One machine against one other machine will only prove anything for that particular brand compared to another particular brand.... not give any real results for the general machine type. It'd be like having one random person sample a drug from the street and one other person samples another drug... and whomever gets cured first proves the drug works. Doesn't really give any real info.

Thanks to all for your responses. I am glad to see that my post was able to generate so much discussion.

It seems that the answer I am looking for can be summed up in one word: Efficiency.

Judging by the responses, it seems to me that a direct comparison between mopeds and motorcycles isn't really valid. They are used for different reasons. Mopeds are generally used for quick, short-distance commutes where it would make more sense to operate vs a bulkier, costlier, and less economical motorcycle. Makes perfect sense- why use a 16 lb sledgehammer when a tack hammer will do a better job!

Well, if nobody minds, I'll stop by this site periodically to check things out once in a while. Take care everyone!

zx,

Do that, also, try a moped trip for pleasure. "It's the ride, not the destination." I sometimes ride a ped when a motorcycle would be more convenient just for the experience of the ride.

Ron

Well, here's my experience with going the moped route so far....

Man, this is so great about the moped.....the cheapest new motorcycle I could find in my area was over $ 3,000, for a 200cc one..My new Avanti moped cost me less then $1,000 with all the extras....So, for the price of the cheapest motorcycle in my area I could have bought at least three of my new mopeds, rode one and set the extra ones aside as spares ! Another option, I could have bought a cheaper TFR Kinetic moped, for about $600 if I really wanted to go cheap, so that would have let me buy 5 mopeds for the cost of that one small motorcycle :)

registration costs 8.00 a year in NJ and no motorcycle test needed...also, no annual inspection needed as on a motorcycle...so, less hassle

Man, check out the mopeds made in India....quality control is something they have to work on, but once you get them setup you seem to have a pretty good bike ...Some Indian fellows I work with convinced me to try an Indian moped...Gas is expensive in India and the people are poor, so gas mileage rating is the MOST important factor when buying a bike there( horsepower and speed take a back seat to gas mileage over there)...My Avanti mopeds is rated at 95km/liter.. which comes out to something like over 225 miles per gallon ! It's no lie,check 'em out... I put 1 gallon of gas in mine, drive it for 100 miles and still have about 1/2 gallon left over, it's simply great !

This is exactly what I was looking for....simplicity,ruggedness, no breakdowns, no repair bills....just simple maintenance and change the spark plug once in awhile

We do seem to be in a small inner circle,enjoying a small brotherhood by mopeding in the USA.... But I don't care about being an individual so much...I'd rather that the moped and power-assisted bicycle ranks in the USA swelled much, much higher...that would get alot of dangerous car drivers off the road and ease traffic congestion . Increased numbers would also give us more political muscle to demand that roads become more two-wheel friendly,have special lanes created for us,let us use highway shoulders ,etc... it might also put a moped dealer/repair shop in my area instead of me having to drive 100 miles to reach one !

I can't understand big bikes either.....more expensive then many cars and just as heavy...

And those guys that mess with the exhaust systems to make them louder should be ticketed every time they start one up, I'm sorry...every excuse Ive heard , like louder is safer, is pure B.S. !

I even park my moped in my house sometimes :)

I really think that a moped is safer then a motorcycle.... ! At under 30mph I can keep good control of my bike,avoiding an accident, even if some jackass in a car pulls an unbelievable stunt in front of me...it's a slow enough speed to react and recover...and my bike is light enough to body-handle it too...your two boots on the ground can really influence the path of a light moving moped... if I was doing 50 mph on a heavy motorcycle and a car dove out on me, forget it , the motorcycle would just be unstopable , pancake city !

I find that on the moped I tend to stay to the shoulders alot if they are available , clean and smooth...if the shoulder is wide, not bumpy with potholes, storm grates and not filled with parked cars I usually feel safer there then to be in the middle of the lane, having a car bumper inches directly behind me, a split-second from smooshing me like a bug.

No, there's too many retards in cars these days..I want to be mixing it up with car drivers as little as possible...I'd rather go slower,stay to the right side, out of their way,then to be out in the lane being forced to exceed the speed limit on a two-wheeled missle trying to escape their bumpers.

Hey, and you have to admit it, it is fun to LEGALLY take the lane ( when there is no shoulder )and while you're doing your incredible putt-putt moped speed all those

in-a-big-hurry-car drivers-with such incredibly-important lives that they have to drive dangerously and at excessive speeds are forced to drive behind you and just eat it ! Ha ! we are making the roads safer for everyone !

Why mopeds? Why not?

Yup,amen to that....